Watch live plant cells build their cell walls

The assembly process has remained mysterious for more than 300 years

Time-lapse of plant building cell wall in black and white

Living plant cells regenerate their protective cell walls under a microscope, providing the first high-resolution time-lapse videos of the assembly process. The cell wall's primary component — cellulose — glows thanks to a molecular probe that stuck to the compound when freshly made.

Huh et al/Science Advances 2025

For the first time, high-resolution time-lapse videos of tiny bits of living plants show how they assemble their protective cell walls, researchers report March 21 in Science Advances.